Mt. Evans- Area D

On Sunday we headed up to Area D on Mount Evans.  This is one of the most beautiful areas I have ever climbed.  Unfortunately, large sections of these massive boulders fail to offer climbable features so there aren't very many boulder problems.

Looking up valley at the Black Wall.

However, the problems that we did climb were very nice.  Here is a video of Alex Kordick climbing a possible FA between Equitos and The Nothing.  We thought it was hard V6.

A few were interested in trying The Nothing V8- a 35 foot problem with the business at the start and a nice victory romp to the top.

Metro cleaning The Nothing.

A video of Mark "Metro" Avery onsighting the classic highball, The Nothing. 

The hike out is much longer than Lincoln Lake but the views are rewarding.

Damn It Feels Good to be a Gangsta

The Bugaboos are only two weeks away, and the trip is looming in my conscience like the huge granite spires waiting for us over 1,200 miles away.  

Unlike past trips, where I did way too much research, created extensive tick lists, and obsessively charted out rest days, I am showing up with almost no goals.  This makes the trip seem deceptively relaxing.  Although the technical nature of the climbing is less demanding, the logistics, and cumulative effects of long approaches, climbing 20 pitches in a day at altitude will probably crush me.  The only goal I do have is to show up, have some fun, climb some beautiful stuff, take lots of pictures and try not to hold my partner back.

Tan Buttresses.  Our route goes up the sunny face to the right of the leftmost large shadow.

So as a last ditch effort to prepare for the Bugs, Ben Collett and I headed up to the Tan Buttresses on Mount Evans and put up a new route.  The goal was to spend time at altitude, and establish something ground up, on an unexplored and impressively steep section of the buttresses.

Ben approaching the Tan Buttresses.

Two things made this route more memorable.  At the base of the route, I realized that I had forgotten my belay device.  So we decided that the second would be belayed with a Munter.  I have been climbing for 17 years, but I had just coincidentally learned the knot a few weeks ago driving home from Utah.  Second, Ben convinced me not to bring any water.

Old school!  HTFU!

The first pitch headed up a left leaning dihedral.  Fun moves and a few crack transitions led to a wet chimney which topped out on a grassy 4th class ledge where we set up an anchor.  I would say this pitch was 5.9.

Ben on Pitch 1.

Since the rock above us look questionable, we decided to follow the vegitated ledge up and left in search of a more inspiring line.  After scrambling for 80 feet, I was forced to climb a 20 feet 5.7 dihedral.  Barely able to pull up rope I constructed an anchor on a small green ledge below a steep, broken corner.  Not the best pitch but it got us in position.

Pitch 3 (House of Cards) turned out to be a much cleaner than it appeared.  Although we trundled a few blocks, most of the pitch was steep and airy with blocky features and lots of good gear.  The top half of the route follows a large, lower angle corner with multiple cracks to the base of a pretty gray headwall.  We thought it was around 5.10b.

Ben starting up Pitch 3.  Note the loose looking blocks.

Ben on the House of Cards Pitch.

Higher up.

The last pitch follows a pretty finger and hand crack that breaks left from the large chimney system onto a steep gray head wall.  Riddled with uncertainty, I cast off into a series of discontinuous, splitter cracks that undulated between fingers and hands until I reached a large pegmatite band.  To my horror, the crack pinched off.  On the brink of panic, I clawed past a slopey offset feature and with choss raining down on Ben, made a few face moves to reach more cracks.   With every point of contact crumbling beneath me, I realized that the next set of cracks were almost 15 feet away.  Freaking out, I noticed some large features, so I followed them to the right towards the chimney.  Then, my brain froze, my body started down climbing, and my mouth said "Take".  And all the sudden, the madness stood still while the disappointment gathered.  I hung for a moment, and then did the 5.10 escape moves to get into the chimney where good gear, solid rock and a steep hand crack lead over a roof to an easy and well protected chimney.  Adrenaline makes it hard to rate things, but I would say the 4th pitch was 12a.

Starting Pitch 4.  The Gangsta Pitch.

Stemming like a Gangsta.

Pulling into the chimney.  You can see how the crack continues up the steep face above where I broke right.  Harder variation?

Topping out, all I could think about was my throbbing toes, my nagging dehydration headache, and how I had cracked under pressure.  We grabbed our stuff and started hiking out, which left me alone with my thoughts.  Thunder cracked and the sky drenched us with absurdly cold rain that washed away my sense of failure.  There was a lot to be proud of.  We had fought with the unknown, grappled with our fears, and created somthing new for others to enjoy.

 

As we rolled out of the Summit Lake parking lot the first song we heard was "Damn It Feels good to be a Gangsta".  For some reason, it felt appropriate.

A complete route description is posted on Mountain Project at http://mountainproject.com/v/damn-it-feels-good-to-be-a-hamsta/107716834.

Mahabone

I finally managed to get the video of Rob Guinn sending Mahabone V6 at Mt. Evans, Area B. Enjoy.


Mahabone V6

New Problems at Mt. Evans Area B

A couple of weeks ago, a group of us went to Area B at Mt. Evans. Originally, we planned on trying Gorillas In the Mist V11, but we ended up establishing a couple very nice problems. The first problem, Mahabone, is located about 70 yards to the left of GITM moving slightly uphill. This double arete slab problem features tricky footwork, nice edges and some slappy compression moves on very cool arete slopers. After Rob Guinn sent it, a couple of key holds snapped off making it a bit harder. The final product, which starts on a low left hand sidepull, and the right hand grabbing the low arete is probably V6, and highly recommended. Here are some pictures.

Me slapping the left arete on Mahabone

Matt Battaglia spotting me on Mahabone

We also wandered into the talus field above GITM, and discovered a little roof with some semi-chalked up slopers. It looked like somebody had been there before, but the amount of cleaning that the problem required indicated that nothing had been established. The sit start is left hand on a sharp quartz crystal, and the right hand in a small seam, which sets you up to make a very cool move to a large hold with your left hand. From here, the problem moves left up the arete, using large slopers and blind heel hooks. Since I just bought a condo, I called it The Dead Pledge V7, in honor of my new mortgage. Yay debt!!! This problem can be found by heading straight up and slightly left from GITM into the talus for about 100 yards. The cave faces downhill. There is potential for some very hard variations to this problem that climb in from the right on the previously mentioned slopers. Here are a couple of pictures.

Me on Dead Pledge

Me on the finishing moves of Dead Pledge

Both of these problems get 3 out of 4 stars for quality. Hopefully others will enjoy these problems as much as we did. And for anybody interested, there is a lot of potential for new stuff. So get after it!!!

Mt. Evans Hangover

It's Tuesday, and I still feel hungover from this weekend. My body aches, and my head feels fuzzy. I have been a useless zombie at work and at night I sit at home and guzzle water. No, I didn't drink too much! If I had, I would probably be recovered by now. My condition was caused by going to Mt. Evan on Sunday, hiking 3+ hours, climbing until I had nothing left, and sucking on thin air all day. As horrible as I feel, I would do it again in an instant.

We started the day at the Ladder V2, and slowly warmed up on some random problems. Then we moved on to a nice V7 arete behind Maker's Mark V5. After a bit of rest, and a short debate on where to go next, we headed to Gorillas in the Mist V11. This was the first time I had climbed on the problem and was not disappointed. This problem has amazing compression moves, and immaculate stone. It definitely has my vote for the best V11 in Colorado. With an hour of effort, and some beta, I was able to do all the moves. I think putting it all together will be the crux. I will definitely be going back soon!

The wind picked up and lightening cracked, but the rain never fell, so we packed up and hiked to the Hume boulder at Area B. This was the first time I had been to the boulder and was impressed by it's size, and the quality and variety of problems. I was also struck by the untapped potential of Area B. I ended up settling on Curiously Strong/Wrong, and the others tried a very cool V6 the the right. After a couple of tries, I stuck the first move of Curiously Strong, but decided to use the jugs to the left. I was told this is Curiously Wrong. It felt like V8 or so. Then I tried to haul my ass off the ground on the Hume Problem V10, which only resulted in some involuntary farts, and grunting. At this point, everyones skin was gone, and it was time to head home.

It was a great day and I can't wait to go back next weekend and get wasted again.